Penn president Liz Magill, Board Chair Scott Bok resign amid firestorm over House testimony

After the fallout from Tuesday’s hearing, Magill attempted to clarify her message on Wednesday, posting a video on X where the Penn leader said she should have focused on the “irrefutable fact that a call for genocide of Jewish people is a call for some of the most terrible violence human beings can perpetrate.”

Magill said that Penn’s policies “need to be clarified and evaluated,” adding that in her view: “It would be harassment or intimidation.”

On Saturday, Bok said Magill was exhausted and made a misstep – but she was unfairly treated.

“Worn down by months of relentless external attacks, she was not herself last Tuesday,” Bok said. “Over prepared and over lawyered given the hostile forum and high stakes, she provided a legalistic answer to a moral question, and that was wrong. It made for a dreadful 30-second sound bite in what was more than five hours of testimony.”

The House Education and Workforce Committee launched an investigation with full subpoena power into Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik announced Thursday afternoon.

Several of Pennsylvania’s elected leaders denounced Magill’s comments, including Governor Josh Shapiro who condemned Magill’s testimony as “shameful.”

“That was an unacceptable statement from the president of Penn,” Shapiro, who is Jewish, said Wednesday. “Frankly, I thought her comments were absolutely shameful. It should not be hard to condemn genocide.”

Shapiro said if calling for the genocide of Jews “doesn’t violate the policies of Penn, well, there’s something wrong with the policies of Penn that the board needs to get on, or there’s a failure of leadership from the president, or both.”

Shapiro is a nonvoting board member at the university.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates issued a statement Wednesday criticizing all three university presidents who testified, saying their responses did not go far enough to condemn antisemitism on campuses.

“It’s unbelievable that this needs to be said: calls for genocide are monstrous and antithetical to everything we represent as a country,” he said.

A petition on Change.org demanding Magill’s resignation had more than 26,000 signatures as of Saturday afternoon.

Despite its name, Penn is a private school and is not run by the state.

University Board of Trustees Chairman Scott Bok full resignation statement:

“Today I submitted my resignation as Chair of the University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees, effective immediately. While I was asked to remain in that role for the remainder of my term in order to help with the presidential transition, I concluded that, for me, now was the right time to depart.

Former President Liz Magill last week made a very unfortunate misstep-consistent with that of two peer university leaders sitting alongside her-after five hours of aggressive questioning before a Congressional committee. Following that, it became clear that her position was no longer tenable, and she and I concurrently decided that it was time for her to exit.

The world should know that Liz Magill is a very good person and a talented leader who was beloved by her team. She is not the slightest bit antisemitic. Working with her was one of the great pleasures of my life. Worn down by months of relentless external attacks, she was not herself last Tuesday. Over prepared and over lawyered given the hostile forum and high stakes, she provided a legalistic answer to a moral question, and that made for a dreadful 30-second sound bite in what was more than five hours of testimony.

I wish Liz well in her future endeavors. I believe that in the fullness of time people will come to view the story of her presidency at Penn very differently than they do today. I hope that some fine university will in due course be wise enough to give her a second chance, in a more supportive community, to lead. I equally hope that, after a well deserved break, she wants that role.

I likewise wish my innumerable friends across the Penn campus well as they forge ahead in this challenging time.”

ABC News and CNN contributed to this report.